March 15, 2015 MAGIC Cruise!! :)

[WylieGrin]

HI Papertraveler! We are now on....I wonder who won the wager on how long your DB and DSIL would take to join in the fun. This is awesome!! We are looking forward to planning and getting in the grove for the trip. DN is enjoying her monthly princess letters. You are the best!

 

[papertraveller]

Yay! So glad you're here, and love your nom de plume!!!

You'll find so much information already on this thread -- aren't the photos of Stingray City and the Turtle Farm fantastic?

I'm a bit cautious about DN's ability to do the Stingray City excursion, given what others are saying about the depth of the water, but we can figure that out! DD just looked at the turtle farm pics and immediately said, "I want to go there!"

 

[3Goofy's]

Wow, lots of activity on here lately! Welcome to all of the new joiners!
I've been MIA with lots of family matters. DH is mending well from his rib fractures -!thank you for the thoughts.

Thank you Nike400 (I think it was you) for all of the lovely pictures of your excursions. Pictures help tremendously for planning, but unfortunately, they ALL look amazing! Choosing just keeps getting harder!

Hi WileyGrin! Papertraveller and I have cruised together a couple of times. I am sure we will get to meet your family too. I think we might be planning a Palo's brunch together if you are interested. Have you been to wdw before? Papertraveller will have you whipped into shape and up to speed in no time, if you haven't.

Papertraveller - yes, I remember FireGoofy. How great to come across them and let the girls run wild through MK! That's great that they have kept in touch this past year. No chance of them joining us again next year?

Whoa, catching up is hard to do!

Enjoy the weekend everyone.

 

[Madzac]

Welcome Wyliegrin! Happy to officially have your join our crew!

So 5Dreamers, 40 dollars for a van? WOW thats amazing!!! Was it a hastle returning the car at the port on embarkation day? Do you remember how long it took him? And can you check him in? Not sure how that works. We rented a car last time but parked it at that port. And how about after? Did it take much time to get to the rental place, etc?

I know what you guys mean about the pictures making it hard! So many of the excursions look awesome!

3Goofys, sorry to hear you have had a tough time. I hope things get better soon. And rib fractures are no fun. I always tell patients rib fractures are one of the worst because you have to breathe and cant avoid using them!

Well I am working on our first cruise purchase. I found some pirate mickey shirts on Etsy I am going to have done for pirate night. We had matching shirts we wore for boarding last time that were a hit, and even helped us in getting picked as family of the day! But several of the kid's shirts will be too small... so new ones it will be! We also love doing countdown nights before a disney vacation and the kids have been begging me to start them! So we are almost to 11 months and are going to do a Frozen themed night tonight. Wish me luck!

 

[3Goofy's]

Madzac, we always rent a car and love it! We rent from MCO usually and tour around the day before the cruise (WDW or elsewhere), drive at our leisure to port, stop by a liquor store, then to port. DH drops ds and I off with the luggage. DH returns the car which is just 5 min away and takes a shuttle back to join us past security. Then we get in line together to check in. This is the part where I get fuzzy. Can't remember if I take DH's passport with me to check him in but I don't think so. I think dh needs his passport with him to get past security. Someone will tell you that has a clearer memory.

After the cruise, we rent a car again, easy as pie. Get in a car rental line and a shuttle comes to take us to get a car. Then we are off for a few more days of WDW usually.

I highly recommend renting a car or van. It is very quick! If there is too long of a line for the shuttle to take dh back to the port, he can always take a cab. I think it was $10. This only happened once for us. It's usually easy to squeeze on a single person with no luggage (you will have dropped it off at port), so dh usually gets the first shuttle.

 

[papertraveller]

Hey there! I made it a cruise day today -- booked our time at Bay Lake Tower for three nights before. Unfortunately we'll be heading straight to the airport once we're back in port. But I'm not thinking about that right now!!!

3Goofy's, who do you rent from? We have done Budget before, and it's generally been pretty smooth. We'll have six of us this trip though, and we're thinking about either a limo or a van I guess.

 

[3Goofy's]

Papertraveller, we use Budget too. It's one of the only ones to not charge a one-way rental fee. 6 people in one vehicle with luggage for 3 wdw days plus a cruise?? You better make sure WileyGrin has your light packing tips. We could never do that!

 

[Madzac]

Thanks for the tips. We always do dollar when we go to Orlando as the Dollar Express is so quick, but they do have the one way fees. With six of us we have to have a van and will need a carseat for our littlest so I will have to price it out. I still think we may use our rewards to take disney transport to the port and rent the car after.

Did you all read they are planning on building a car rental place at the port with room for three companies? That will be cool!

PApertraveller, yeah on the pre WDW stay! Another thing to look forward to!

We had our Frozen countdown supper for 11 months til the trip. I did Hans and Anna's sandwiches, Olaf;s parts and dip (carrot sticks and pretzel sticks) and troll stones (tator tot rounds) and then I made sugar cookie snowmen and the kids decorated them for "do you want to build a snowman" cookies. We finished by watching the movie. Fun night!

 

[papertraveller]

We had our Frozen countdown supper for 11 months til the trip. I did Hans and Anna's sandwiches, Olaf;s parts and dip (carrot sticks and pretzel sticks) and troll stones (tator tot rounds) and then I made sugar cookie snowmen and the kids decorated them for "do you want to build a snowman" cookies. We finished by watching the movie. Fun night!

What a great idea! I bet the kids just loved it!
We had a Disney film weekend last week -- we picked up Frozen and Saving Mr. Banks. I liked Frozen, but thought Saving Mr. Banks was a really, really good movie. (And I write this as DD has one of her musical theatre friends over and they're singing A Whole New World in the basement -- so I guess I'm getting my Disney serenade today too!)

 

[papertraveller]

Papertraveller, we use Budget too. It's one of the only ones to not charge a one-way rental fee. 6 people in one vehicle with luggage for 3 wdw days plus a cruise?? You better make sure WileyGrin has your light packing tips. We could never do that!

Yeah, and don't forget there will be adult beverages too! We did it in 2012 with five of us, but definitely needed a van.

We are doing the DVC member cruise on the Dream this summer and are trying to figure out transportation. I'm leaning towards Budget, largely because the DCL bus left our resort at 11:30 a.m. last time, and then hit at least one other resort before we hit the highway. It was about 1 p.m. when we arrived at the port. And I want to get onboard as soon as I can!

 

[5Dreamers]

So 5Dreamers, 40 dollars for a van? WOW thats amazing!!! Was it a hastle returning the car at the port on embarkation day? Do you remember how long it took him? And can you check him in? Not sure how that works. We rented a car last time but parked it at that port. And how about after? Did it take much time to get to the rental place, etc?

... So we are almost to 11 months and are going to do a Frozen themed night tonight. Wish me luck!

We used Budget and it was very easy.
We rented the car from MCO, drove to our hotel near the port. Woke up, ate breakfast, had extra time so we drove around and took a quick stop at the beach. DH dropped the kids and I at the port at our specified time. Since DH was the only one to return the van, he easily fit on the next shuttle back to port. I think we waited about 30-45 minutes for him to meet up with us in the cruise terminal. I could not check him in, but I checked the luggage, myself and the kids in while we were waiting.

When we got off the ship, we just went straight to the Budget line up and got the 2nd shuttle over. Once there, it took about 10 minutes to get the vehicle that we drove to WDW. After settling in he returned it to the place near Downtown Disney. DH walked back to the "World of Disney" store to meet up with us. I think he said its a few blocks down that street.

I read about your 'Frozen' theme night, how amazing!

 

[3Goofy's]

Yes, for those wanting to drop off or pick up a rental car near wdw, there is a Budget rental place a few blocks down from DTD. No one way fee. Works very well.

 

[budamacdvcr]

Some more photos to help folks with excursions or to just help the countdown go faster

Play Mia Beach Day - One of the pools and water slides


Play Mia Beach Day - Beach and you can see some of the water gym stuff in the background


http://www.playamiacozumel.com/

Snorkeling in Grand Cayman


Can't forget Castaway Cay - My personal favorite

 

[claryche]

Hello all. We will be going on this cruise too and can't wait. We have done one other cruise, on the Disney Dream in Nov 2012. It will be myself, my husband my son and my mom again this time too. My son is a little bummed, because he loved the aquaduck and doesn't think he will like the aquadunk. I hope he will. I just wanted to try out the smaller ship and it was a little cheaper than the Fantasy.

 

[Madzac]

Welcome Claryche! Happy to have your join our crew! We have also only done the Dream so far and my kids loved the aquaduck. The older three are all game to try the Aquadunk... but I think mom may sit that one out! I am anxious to see how the ships compare as well.

Budamacdvcr- thanks for some more great pics, especially the Playa Mia ones as I think that is what we are planning to do! Loved them! I love seeing the pictures!

Thanks to everyone for the car stories! It sounds like it wouldnt be too difficult. Now to just wait for flights so I know when we will get into the area.

 

[claryche]

Thanks Madzac. I have to admit that I'm nervous over the aquadunk too, but I screamed the whole time on the aquaduck even and my son rode it 4 times. As far as the smaller ship, I'm looking forward to less people at Castaway Cay and also my TA said that we should have a character breakfast, something not on the big ships. Another plus. She also said that she was scared at first of the aquadunk, but she did it and she said all the kids loved it, so hopefully my son will love it too.

 

[papertraveller]

Welcome Claryche! I too am in the group not sure about Aquadunk. Aquaduck I loved, but I am not wild about water slides where there isn't a tube or other device to slide on. We shall see!

I had forgotten about the character breakfast -- that really is a treat.

And keep those photos coming! Just what we need to see -- gonna have to read more about Playa Mia. Assuming food was all included?

 

[budamacdvcr]

And keep those photos coming! Just what we need to see -- gonna have to read more about Playa Mia. Assuming food was all included?

Yes a buffet lunch, including both local and traditional stuff for the kids or picky eaters, which was pretty good and ice cream for the kids during the day. Also included is a domestic bar - Bottled water, soft drinks, draft beer, juice, tequila, mezcal, brandy, rum, vodka, margaritas,pi�a colada, rum punch, daiquiris, house wine & coffee

 

[papertraveller]

Yes a buffet lunch, including both local and traditional stuff for the kids or picky eaters, which was pretty good and ice cream for the kids during the day. Also included is a domestic bar - Bottled water, soft drinks, draft beer, juice, tequila, mezcal, brandy, rum, vodka, margaritas,pi�a colada, rum punch, daiquiris, house wine & coffee

Hmmmm. I'm noticing a certain lack of specifics about the food, and a rather fulsome description of the items at the bar.

Trip Advisor reviews are mixed on Playa Mia. Were the facilities crowded when you were there?

 

[budamacdvcr]

Hmmmm. I'm noticing a certain lack of specifics about the food, and a rather fulsome description of the items at the bar. Trip Advisor reviews are mixed on Playa Mia. Were the facilities crowded when you were there?

I pasted the drinks from their website, plus this is the most important The food is listed as well but as a table which can't paste. We did not find it to be over crowded when we were there (July). They had a section of the beach reserved for the disney folks, buffet area had plenty of seating, we found space by the pools, etc.